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Admission: Provisions and Conditions

Admission to the Master of Public Administration program (MPA) is based upon demonstration of a sound academic and/or professional history, coupled with community involvement and the Admission Committee’s belief in the candidate’s potential for academic success. Candidates may be admitted provisionally or conditionally if they have not met all of the admission requirements. Students are accountable for satisfying those requirements, as specified in their letter of admission and within the specified time limits.

Provisional Admission

Students are admitted provisionally if they have not been awarded an undergraduate degree before admission. Before beginning graduate coursework at Evergreen, students must provide evidence that the degree was awarded from the degree-granting institution. At a minimum, the Admissions Office must receive written confirmation of the degree from an official at the awarding institution by September 15 before the student may begin MPA coursework in the Fall. Official transcripts, due no later than November 1 (September 15 for financial aid funds to be released for Fall Quarter), should be submitted to the Admissions Office.

Conditional Admission and Completion of Program Prerequisites

Students are admitted conditionally if they have not satisfied the MPA statistics prerequisite. Within 3 years prior to admission, students must complete an MPA-approved 4 quarter credit (or 3 semester credit) course in introductory statistics with a grade of “C” or better. A current list of MPA-approved statistics courses at Evergreen and other Washington State colleges is listed on the Admission Requirements page of our website. Course content must include elementary descriptive and inferential statistics, including: probability, binomial and normal distributions, hypotheses testing, correlations, t-tests and chi-squared tests

Official transcripts (or other acceptable official evidence) documenting satisfactory completion of an approved statistics must be received by the Assistant MPA Director for the applicable concentration (Puanani Nihoa for the Tribal concentration; Randee Gibbons for the Public/Non-Profit Administration and Public Policy concentrations) no later than September 15 before the Fall quarter of admission to allow students to begin first year core courses. Have transcripts sent to: Assistant MPA Director (see above); MPA Program; Evergreen State College; Mailstop: Lab 1; 2700 Evergreen Parkway NW; Olympia, WA; 98505

Internship Requirement

Students who are admitted without demonstrating completion of full-time work, for a year or more, with significant responsibility in public or nonprofit administration or in a public policy area, will be required to complete an internship before graduating from the program. This internship is minimally one (1) quarter credit hour and involves part-time work (5 hours per week) with an agency or organization in the public or non-profit sector for one quarter. For more information about internships, see the “Internship” section of this handbook.